Katie Couric Wakes Up Late; Palin Gets a 2008 Flashback

We realize there's only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today: Katie Couric makes her GMA debut, Sarah Palin says hello to the Today show gang, and a peek into the next Aaron Sorkin-inspired cultural touchstone.

What big assignments did temp Katie Couric tackle on her first of five hosting ABC's Good Morning America? Well, why let her perk go to waste on hyping just one single ABC show and have her go behind the scenes of Dancing With the Stars for a segment? OK, so let's set aside the journalism today and focus on the montages. Specifically, this montage of Couric struggling to wake up on time for her big premiere set to The Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" by Wham! (we had to look up that last one, too). That's a pretty '80s soundtrack for a TV host we usually associate with the '90s and early oughts, but we'll roll with it because, well, we can sympathize with early morning blogging demands. [via Good Morning America]

Meanwhile, across the dial, NBC tried to trump ABC's Couric with a Sarah Palin, who's decided to embrace the lamestream media for one short day in order to recapture fleeting relevance dust off the ol' journalism degree. That day is Tuesday, so today we're teased with a phone call from the governor on NBC's Today show. "What are you doing to prepare?" Lauer asks. "Reading some newspapers?" Touché, Mr. Lauer. After an allusion like that to Couric, who famously asked Palin that newspaper question in 2008, it's hard for NBC to pretend that her guest-hosting is anything but a rating ploy against a competing morning news show that's been nipping at its heels for some time. Not that we won't be watching her tomorrow. [via Today]

At the bottom of our totem pole of media stars today is a fake one, "William McAvoy," who more likely than not will become a household character name soon after The Newsroom debuts in June. We say more likely than not because it's Aaron Sorkin creation after all, and those tend to do well. Here's a teaser for the HBO series featuring Jeff Daniels. [via Gawker]

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